'Jeopardy!' contestant's 'gangsta' mispronunciation costs him $3,200

By Sarah Wolfgram
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January 2, 2018 @1:29 PM

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CULVER CITY, Calif. — A "Jeopardy!" contestant learned a hard lesson about the importance of pronunciation.

Nick Spicher appeared on the trivia show Monday night, where he was asked to provide the question to a clue that included Coolio's song "Gangsta's Paradise" and author John Milton's book "Paradise Lost."

His answer -- "Gangster's Paradise Lost" was *almost* correct, except he said -ster instead of -sta. He won the $1,600 at first, but Trebek circled back and deducted the money when judges found his answer to be inaccurate, taking away an additional $1,600.

From the "Jeopardy!" website:

"Although Nick’s response of “Gangster’s Paradise Lost” was initially accepted, the hard R sound caught the ear of one member of the onstage team, who immediately followed up with a quick check.

It turns out that “gangsta” and “gangster” are both listed separately in the Oxford English Dictionary, each with its own unique definition.

Nick changed not only the song’s title, but also its meaning ­– making his response unacceptable."

The Daily Show's Roy Wood Jr. caught the snafu on video here, saying "Let Nick’s mistake be a lesson to us all. In 2018, you gotta keep it gangsta at all times. Never Gangster #Jeopardy"